Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From brute +‎ -ish

Examples

II. vii.66 (269,8) [As sensual as the brutish sting] Though the _brutish sting_ is capable of a sense not inconvenient in this passage, yet as it is a harsh and unusual mode of speech, I should read the

It was an awful thought to me, ever present on those Sundays, and haunting me at other times; that men, women and children were living in brutish degradation, and that as they died others would take their place.

The "mouth" and "eyes" are those of a man, while the symbol is otherwise brutish, that is, it will assume man's true dignity, namely, wear the guise of the kingdom of God (which comes as the "Son of man" from above), while it is really bestial, namely, severed from God.

After incidents of what some called brutish Chinese behavior toward foreign fishing vessels, the Obama administration, determined to show that the U.S. is still a major Pacific power, has been conducting naval maneuvers with countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

From blatantly racist films such as W.D. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" to the tasteless buffoonery of MGM's "Soul Plane" whether intentionally mean-spirited or ignorantly self-inflicted, the message of the so-called brutish or oversexed Black male has been disseminated throughout America and the world.

But flagrant fabrications such as "Obama liking Reagan's policies" hurts not only Obama in terms of voters who may believe it, and Hillary, for those who don't, but it hurts the Democrats because it represents the kind of brutish, deceptive politics Americans now routinely hate.